Methods for characterizing colour printers

Abstract

After a brief introduction to the principles of colour management and issues such as gamut mapping and appearance modelling, the principles of printer characterisation are discussed in relation to the ANSI/ISO tools developed for this purpose and the important ISO Graphic Arts process control standards. Techniques are discussed which may be used to achieve the necessary characterisation. These include the Neugebauer equations, least-squares fitting to polynomial functions, non-linear transformations and look-up-tables with interpolation. Addition of extra colorants such as black is also considered briefly. The important issues associated with characterisation, gamut mapping and appearance modelling, are also discussed.